The first time I felt curiosity to learn about buddhism was about ten years ago at 17 during my first job in retail. The area I was assigned to had many home goods, decorations, and amongst them there was a statue of the Buddha. Everyday I would clean up the aisles and every time I'd place the Buddha statues back in place I would notice how serene and calm he looked. So one day I decided to look up who/what the Buddha was and felt as if I had found a pot of gold. Since then I've been through periods of diligent practice and periods of no practice at all due to frustrations, believing I would never get anywhere, unable to deal with pain, etc. Recently however, about a year ago, I came across Thanissaro Bhikku's dhamma talks and have developed a much more light and joyful determination to practice. I don't have much to contribute here, but always read the discussions and you all are very helpful.

---The trouble is that you think you have time------Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe------It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---